The Curse Of Robert The Doll

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I snapped a photo of Robert The Doll before reading that he puts curses on anyone who takes his photograph. Uh oh. Surely it’s just a myth, I thought. Curious, I began reading about the doll’s history. In 1903, Robert was given to four-year old Gene Otto, who lived in Key West. As Gene grew up he blamed everything bad that happened on the doll. By the time Gene was married, Robert had taken the blame for a lifetime of lies, misdeeds, and mischief.

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Robert The Doll is on display at the East Martello Museum and Fort in Key West

Some say Robert’s face had begun to change by the time Gene died in 1974, that his eyes grew more expressive. People insisted that the doll moved around and could be heard giggling behind their backs. Many who came in contact with Robert experienced bad luck, as if the doll was getting even for all the years he had been made a scapegoat. The curse of Robert The Doll grew into such a well-known legend in Key West that whenever things went wrong, locals would simply shrug and say, “Blame it on Robert.” But Robert’s real fame came when the “Chucky” horror film series (Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, etc.) came out, as they were said to have been modeled on the real-life story of Robert the Doll.

There are many theories about why Robert behaves the way he does. Some believe it is an ancient curse. Others say it is voodoo. Still others insist that Gene Otto’s ghost has returned to the doll whom he loved so much. The museum cats seem to believe in Robert’s dark powers – they keep their distance when staring up at the glass case in East Martello Museum where Robert is enthroned. People, on the other hand, tend to doubt the legend, and have suffered the consequences. Letters scattered at Robert’s feet and tacked up on an adjacent wall are testimonials from dozens of unbelievers who were cursed by Robert The Doll, such as this one:

Since our visit to the museum, we’ve been under a dark cloud.

I began to develop a rather severe toothache. Two days later, Hurricane Charly cut our vacation short and we joined the parade of evacuees leaving the islands. We were evacuated from our vacation spot three days early with my mouth in tremendous pain. My sister-in-law was also having female health issues. We were all forced to make alternate travel arrangements on the run.

My sister-in-law lives in Clearwater. After a problem laden and horrendous trip, she finally got home, only to be evacuated from there too. She packed up her two cats and headed for her parents house in Winter Haven and ended up in the middle of the storm there. They lost power for two days.

When we arrived in Miami for our flight back to Indianapolis, the plane broke and they had to “find” a different one for us. The following day, back in Indiana, I went to the dentist to learn that my tooth had abscessed and I had to have a root canal.

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm. Our house was hit by lightning – not once, but TWICE! We were unplugging things, but not fast enough. We lost three TV’s and a large satellite dish. The first hit, which sounded like a gunshot in the house, took one large TV and the satellite dish, and the second hit got two more TV’s. Again, the sound was horribly frightening.

Please do me a favor and tell Robert that we did not mean to anger or offend him and we’re sorry if we did. His photo did turn out good, so he sat very nicely for me. Would he like it back?

Yours sincerely,

Cindy Lyons

Battle Ground, Indiana

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Hundreds of letters have been sent to the Museum by visitors who beg Robert’s forgiveness and ask him to remove his curse

As for me, well, Robert and I were introduced several days ago and so far I’ve suffered no ill effects. But then, I’m not taking any chances. Like the cats, I choose to believe.

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1,434 thoughts on “The Curse Of Robert The Doll”

  1. dear robert,
    my sincerest apologies go out to you, as i was curious of your story and where you came from. please forgive me for looking at your pictures without being given permission. hopefully you understand the natural curiosity of a human being, and that i mean no harm in becoming fascinated with your origin. i do hope you see the genuine respect i have and that it brings no harm to me or anyone close to me. no offense was intended here at all.

    Reply

  3. Dear Robert,
    I’m sorry that I was disrespectful towards you and that I snooped around in your personal life, i hope you forgive me
    Sincerely,
    Roy

    Reply

  6. Dear Robert,

    I apologize for looking at your pictures without your permission. I was curious to find out about your stories.

    Reply

  7. Dear Robert, i’m sorry for being so disrespectful to you, I’m sorry because my mind tries to do the opposite of what i want it not to do and it is to lose my respect for you, I’ve been asking for your forgiveness for so many times and i wish that my mind will be obidient to me

    Sorry Robert, I’m really sorry

    Reply

  9. Dear Robert,

    I’m sorry that my friends, family, and students were looking at you pictures . We are sorry that we were being disrespectful. We were curious about your story. I hope you can forgive us.

    Reply

  10. Robert, I’m sorry for being so disrespectful towards you, Please forgive me, I didn’t have any intention of doing it, I’m sorry because I know what i did was wrong and accidental, I’m also sorry for prying into your personal stuff and for looking at your pictures, I hope you can forgive me for being so rude to you.

    Reply

  11. Dear Robert, I’m sorry if have done anything wrong to you, And I’m also sorry for looking as your pictures I don’t mean any harm, I’m also sorry for minding your personal stuff,
    If you put a curse on me, Please remove it, I’m sorry for anything that i have done against you, Please don’t put a curse on me

    Reply

  15. Dear Robort

    I apologize for looking at your pictures and searching you on Google. I came across your story and thought it would be intresting. Sorry

    Reply

    • Dear Robert, I’m so sorry for prying into your personal business, I hope that you can forgvie me because I sincerely meant what i said, Im sorry

      Reply

  17. Dear Robert,
    I’m very sorry for looking at your picture without permission. I didn’t mean to offend you. Please forgive me.

    Reply

  19. Dear Robert,
    I’m so sorry for looking at your picture I just want to learn more about you. I didn’t mean to offend you in anyway. I think your really fascinating and keep being you .

    Yours Sincerely,
    Olivia

    Reply

  20. Dear Robert,
    I am sincerely sorry for looking at your pictures with out permission i was just curious and wanted to learn more about you.

    Reply

    • I’m sorry Robert for looking at tour picture. You are really interesting and I personally am really into these kind of stuffs, so I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way, and I think you are really cool thou.
      Sincerely, Carolina.

      Reply

  22. i am so sorry for looking at your picture i just wanted to see you and learn more about you. i was just wondering who you were, im so sorry.

    Sincerely, Tajunae

    Reply

  23. Dear robert,

    i very sorry for looking at your picture. i think you are a really cool doll and i wanted to learn more about you.

    Sincerely Taivyon

    Reply

  24. Dear Robert,
    I am very sorry that I have looked at your picture without asking for your permission.
    I am deeply asking for you to remove the curse.
    I am very very sorry.

    Sincerely, Paulinne

    Reply

  25. I am sorry Robert that I saw your pictures. A friend told me about the story and I think it is very interesting. It was nice to know about you.

    Reply

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